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For the term "FloatHub".
9

Editors' Blog / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K / Monitoring & Tracking

FloatHub 2020: LTE cellular, web widgets & more

For me, the boat monitoring features of FloatHub started well and have continually improved since I first reviewed the relatively inexpensive hardware/service system when it was a 2017 Kickstarter campaign. So when I stripped the chaos of redundant test electronics off Gizmo last fall with a plan to put together a more normal “pick of the litter” system, FloatHub was going to part of it. But actually I just installed a new LTE cellular model and that, along with some nifty new sharing features, prompted this update…

2

Editors' Blog / Wireless & Apps / Zany / Monitoring & Tracking

FloatHub, Boat Beacon and Boat Watch work with Amazon Alexa

You may realize that Amazon’s “smart assistant” Alexa is like Apple’s Siri, except that you can ask “her” questions through an Echo speaker instead of an iPhone. But did you know that some marine app developers have created Alexa skills as free and possibly useful features? The underlying technology is awesome, but you don’t have to know much to make it work…

19

Editors' Blog / Zany / Green Boating / Monitoring & Tracking

Winter boat, with help from Victron, Maretron, and FloatHub

Ben Stein is already in Miami working as an Innovations Award judge and I look forward to his reporting as I man the news desk here in Maine. Today, though, I’ll discuss some of the monitoring tools helping to keep Gizmo safe in winter conditions like the easterly gale that blew about ten inches of snow onto Camden last night…

14

AIS / Monitoring & Tracking

Easy Marine Traffic AIS sharing from your boat, FloatHub is first

The screen above may look like an app running exclusively on the boat, but actually all that data was being easily uploaded to my private data cloud thanks to Gizmo’s FloatHub monitoring system, plus the AIS target info was being automatically shared with the public via Marine Traffic. There are many benefits to sharing the AIS data your boat receives, and FloatHub has other recent improvements with more coming…

Beta testing FloatHub boat monitoring, and the wonders of marine WiFi 12

Wireless & Apps / Monitoring & Tracking

Beta testing FloatHub boat monitoring, and the wonders of marine WiFi

FloatHub_yellow_box_beta_testing_on_Gizmo_cPanbo.jpg

I don’t usually write about beta testing, but the FloatHub monitoring system is already proving itself so smart and functional that I want its Kickstarter campaign to succeed and hope that some readers enjoy the good deal that seems available, at least for the next few days. Detailing FloatHub is also a good opportunity to discuss the many ways WiFi is being used afloat these days, a subject that many boaters are understandably confused about…

NMEA to WiFi gateways: TeamSurv’s & FloatHub 13

Wireless & Apps / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K

NMEA to WiFi gateways: TeamSurv’s & FloatHub

TeamSurv_NMEA_Tools_NMEA0183-WiFi_bridge_collage_cPanbo.jpgWhen it rains, it pours (particularly at Panbo HQ this “spring”). NMEA-to-WiFi bridges are quite useful — mainly for getting basic boat data like depth, GPS, and wind into the wonderful world of marine mobile apps — and there have been numerous choices for a while. But yesterday TeamSurv started offering an interesting and notably inexpensive new bridge on KickStarter, and the intriguing FloatHub bridge and monitoring system will join it there soon…

New Boat Network feature seen on iPad and Android phone versions of Cortex Onboard apps 21

Communications / AIS / The future / NMEA 2000, 0183 & Signal K / Monitoring & Tracking

Vesper Cortex update: Boat Networks, squashing bugs & more

Vesper Marine’s Cortex AIS, VHF, and monitoring system is the most innovative marine electronics product I’ve tested in a long time. But Cortex is also a serious challenge to review properly because it has so many useful capabilities — some of which look and feel strikingly different from their antecedents — and it’s also a system designed to evolve. That’s the justification for this update, even though…

18

Mobile Apps / Electrical & Engines / Monitoring & Tracking

Victron SmartShunt: easy install, networked, all-in-one battery monitor

I’ve found Victron’s BMV battery monitors to be simple, reliable, and easy to understand. Now, the new SmartShunt combines the BMV’s shunt and electronics into a single unit barely larger than the regular shunt with Bluetooth and Victron’s VE.Direct networking built-in. In my testing, the SmartShunt works just like a BMV. And I don’t miss the little gauge display because there are so many other ways to see and use SmartShunt battery data, suitable to boats large and small (and RVs).

17

Wireless & Apps / PC & peripheral / Communications / Monitoring & Tracking

Wave WiFi Rogue Reach Dual Band, excellent high-power marine WiFi

These days many coastwise cruisers rely on cellular for their internet needs, but there’s still a place for high power WiFi radios that can connect to harbor hotspots, at least on my boat. And Wave WiFi’s dual-band Rogue Reach model has been making me very happy in this department. The interface shown in part above makes it easy to find and stay locked onto even fairly distant access points, and often they’re in the 5GHz band that most marine WiFi systems can’t see…

26

Network & control / Electrical & Engines / Monitoring & Tracking

Victron Cerbo GX, good AC/DC power monitoring gets better

The existing Victron Venus GX and Color Control GX are both excellent AC/DC power monitoring products in my estimation, but with many boat systems it’s hard to decide which one to use. While the Venus blue box is less expensive with more networking capabilities, none of its display and control abilities are as fast and easy as the CCGX’s screen and button interface. I’m happy to report that this purchasing dilemma will end next year with the new Cerbo GX and GX Touch 50, and valuable new GX features are included…